During the midnight hours of March 21st, the paramilitary agent Miguel Sarduy stabbed Juan Pavon, a citizen of San German, Holguin, to death, according to a report by human rights activist Eliecer Palma, of the Eastern Democratic Alliance (ADO), in his Twitter account (@eliecerpalma1).
In conversation with this blog, Palma said that he had confirmed the news after talking to neighbors who witnessed the crime.
The victim, Juan Pavon, who lived on 13th Street, “dedicated himself to lend money to people, and Sarduy had an outstanding debt with him. With this already existing debt, Sarduy told him to lend him more money, which Pavon refused. The response of the paramilitary agent was to tell him ‘I am going to kill you’ and that is exactly what he did“, explained Eliecer.
Pavon’s body was found with 7 stab wounds. He leaves behind two children, one female and one male. He was about 60 years old and had already retired.
Miguel Sarduy, also known as ‘Mingue’, “is a man who is despised in this community of San German. This man was used by State Security to act as a vigilante for the regime, to watch us, the activists, to impede our rights. He was completely at their service“.
Recently exiled dissident Luis Felipe Rojas Rosabal has denounced Sarduy in the past on his blog, “Crossing the Barbed Wire”. In Rojas’ case, the agent would constantly keep watch over him and his family; he would threaten and repudiate them, all under the orders of State Security. Other repressors like Jorge Leyva and Alredo Caraba Llosa operated alongside him.
“Miguel Sarduy is one of the typical cases in Cuba where the police uses citizens who have committed crimes for their dirty work“, said Rojas Rosabal from Miami, “Up to the moment of committing the crime- a murder in this case- his job was to watch us dissidents in San German. He would follow each of our steps, or he would just stand outside his house to inform who would go in and out of my house, then he would inform another ‘informant’ and, in sum, for the political police. And it’s something that they still do in Cuba, use delinquents and criminals to harass and provoke peaceful human rights defenders“.
The authorities have detained Sarduy, although it is not clear if they will process him. Just three days ago, he physically assaulted his sister, which resulted in his detention, but he was freed a few days later, according to Eliecer Palma.
Palma adds that the fact that the political police uses people like Sarduy to repress dissidents constitutes a grave danger for the lives of all those who decided to publicly oppose the Cuban dictatorship.
Three different cases of acts of repudiation, acts of vandalism, and arrests were recently reported in different parts of Cuba. These actions not only affected the targeted dissidents, but also their relatives, leaving scars especially on those who are underage. These crimes, executed by the political police, are nothing new in totalitarian Cuba, but in this post, we document 3 new cases. Vueltas, San German, Palma Soriano. Three different towns and three similar actions against activists of diverse pro-freedom groups.
Friday, March 8th, 2013. Vueltas, Villa Clara. Raúl González and Niurcy Acosta Pacheco, a couple belonging to the dissident Cuban Reflection Movement, dropped off their 11 year old son, Daniel David, at a friend’s house to celebrate his birthday. The last thing they expected that afternoon was that Daniel would be arrested for being present at a party.
González, in conversation with“Radio Republica”, said that during the party the children started to play with fireworks, among them those known as “small bombs”. It was then that the Chief of Sector of Vueltas, whose last name is Mesa, showed up to the house, snatching the ‘toys’ away from all the children and sending them home- all of them except Daniel, who he forcefully took to the local National Revolutionary Police unit. Mesa told the young boy that his friends were waiting for him in the mentioned unit, but it was just blackmail.
The child told the official that he did not have to be in that place. Mesa’s response, as well as that of other functionaries, was to threaten Daniel with being handcuffed.
Daniel was detained for a little more than two hours. ”At about 10:30 PM he was left outside and told to go back home on his own”, denounced his father in the same audio. A friendly neighbor recognized the child and helped him get back home. His parents, Raul and Niurcy, presented complaints in different institutions but have received no response.
“We know very well that this is just a method [of State Security] to try and destabilize the kid, and at the same time, us”, said Raul Gonzalez.
Monday, March 11th, 2013. San German, Holguín.At about 1 AM, the home of the sister of activist Eliecer Palma Pupo, of the Eastern Democratic Alliance, was stoned by various unidentified people who ran away after committing the acts of vandalism. The activist’s mother and sister were inside the house, and so was his 6 year old daughter.
This was not the first time the house, where Eliecer spends much of his time, is attacked with rocks. According to another audio of ‘Radio Republica’, one of the cases the activist recalls was in 2011, and during the current year of 2013, he has received numerous threats from State Security, especially the agent who goes by the name of Julian, who told him he’d take take repressive measures against him because of his activism. This is why Palma Pupo assures that the actions were carried out by the regime.
Afterward, the dissident explained to this blog that “one of the rocks penetrated a window, broke the blinds, and landed very close to my daughter. This has left her very afraid“.
Eliecer and his sister went to the PNR unit of San German to formally present a complaint. Up to the moment, the authorities have ignored their demand.
Saturday, March 9th, 2013. Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba. Of the three cases, the most violent. Jose Ramos Corrales, member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) made a call of desperation and condemnation after his home, located in the neighborhood of Nuevo Palma, was surrounded by mobs organized by the political police. The members of the hate mob were armed with stones, bottles, sticks and machetes and challenged the dissident and his family to step outside so that they “could kill them”.
In audios published on the YouTube channel of UNPACU and ‘Radio Republica’, Ramos recounted that his 10 year old daughter was inside the house, hearing all the vulgar insults being shouted and witnessing all the acts of violence.
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, leader of UNPACU, said in his Twitter account (@jdanielferrer) that the mobs “tore down the fence and the wall [of Ramos' home], they stole their furniture, clothes, a kitchen stove and even a small car to sell pizzas” that they had inside.
“The entire operation against the Ramos-Marrero family was directed by the Communist Party and the agents of its political police”, added another message by Ferrer.
Meanwhile, Ramos was violently arrested during the raid and he was kept in a cell until Monday, just to find his house surrounded once again for another act of repudiation. The same mobs once again threatened him and his family with death.
Ramos expressed the most worry for his young daughter, denouncing that he has had to take her to a mental health doctor to try and calm her nerves.
The video of this repudiation, and the moment of desperation faced by the young girl, was captured on video and published by UNPACU. See for yourselves:
Twitter’s “blue bird” perched over Cuba. Taken from internet.
Each day, there are more Cubans who, through the “internet without internet”, use Twitter to narrate the real Cuba and to shatter censorship. They are dissidents, bloggers, intellectuals, farmers…Cubans hailing from diverse corners of the country. It’s difficult for them to send out these messages, considering that it costs 1 dollar (an elevated amount for Cubans), and yet, they still do it.
The following are a couple of follow recommendations of new or recent Twitter users, straight from the island:
Maydelis González Almeida
@maydeliscuba1
Resident of Quemado de Guines, Villa Clara, member of the Cuban Reflection Movement. She and her family are constantly persecuted by the political police but they continue defying the dictatorship out in the streets.
Carlos Michael Morales
@CarlosMCuba
An independent journalist and alternative blogger (‘El Amante de la Libertad’), Carlos Michael is also a member of the Central Opposition Coalition. He has used his account to denounce cases of political repression, social issues and achievements by pro-freedom activists.
Isael Poveda Silva
@IsaelCuba
Member of the Eastern Democratic Alliance and of their information agency ADO-Press, Isael Poveda tweets from Guantanamo, narrating the reality of that Eastern region: cholera outbreaks, signs which appear in public with anti-regime messages, public marches, evictions, and more.
Santa Gonzalez Pedroso
@santacuba1
A very brave Cuban woman, member of the Rosa Parks Movement for Civil Rights, she carries out frequent public protests alongside other dissidents in Grua Nueva, Ciego de Avila. Santa Gonzalez does an excellent job on Twitter denouncing human rights violations in that area and documenting the growing level of opposition.
Eliecer Palma
@eliecerpalma1
Tweeting from San German, Holguin, Eliecer just opened his account, promising important news from the Cuba ignored by the state media. Palma has been reporting important social issues, like a recent massive strike by carriage drivers in San German.
Yanisbel Valido Perez
@YanisbelValido
One of the most active young dissidents in the city of Santa Clara, Villa Clara province. Valido Perez is the representative of the Cuban Rafters without Frontiers Movement and member of the Rosa Parks Movement for Civil Rights. She is frequently arrested by the political police but does not stop carrying out public activities in favor of freedom, nor does she stop informing about them on her account.
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These were just some of the new Twitter users from Cuba. Everyday there are more. Give them a follow!
The home of dissident blogger Luis Felipe Rojas in San German, Holguin, remained surrounded by uniformed political police agents throughout the entire day of Saturday, January 28th, which was also the anniversary of Jose Marti’s birth, the poet and leading Cuban freedom fighter, known best as “the apostle of Cuba”. Just two days prior to the aggressive surveillance, Rojas’ home was the target of vandalism at the hands of mobs directed by the Cuban regime who threw paint at the front part of the house.
“My house is always under vigilance“, denounces Rojas, “but now it’s completely surrounded by political police agents dressed in uniformed and carrying arms. There are police vehicles, an olive green Jeep belonging to the Operational Guard, and various motorcycles belonging to the political police“. In addition, the dissident and friend of Rojas- Elieser Palma Pupo- was arrested as he tried to make it to the surrounded home. “The arrest occurred at around 5 pm and was carried out by Captain Abel Ramirez and Lieutenant Saul Vega“, whom are both State Security functionaries, informed the independent blogger.
As soon as the arrest took place, Luis Felipe stepped out of his home and began to question the functionaries of the regime. During the exchange- which in reality was more like an argument- agent Abel Ramirez accused Rojas and his family of having staged the whole ordeal and thrown paint on his own house in order “to provoke something“, according to the dissident, who also added that numerous neighbors showed solidarity with him, denouncing the tactics of the Castro regime.
“Though we know it is pointless, we have denounced the case of the vandalism in my house in a police unit of San German“, explained Rojas “and they told me they would come to my house in a few hours, but 48 hours have passed and they have not come, since they cannot accuse themselves“.
As a product of the manipulation and repression of the Cuban dictatorship, Luis Felipe Rojas expresses that he profoundly worries about his wife and two children- a daughter of 4 and a son of 8. “My son Malcom has been suffering nervous issues for quite some time” , assured Rojas, outlining that it is product of all the repression the young one must see, including when his father gets arrested just for opposing the regime and freely writing his ideas.
“I am sending out an alert in regards to what can happen to me and my family“, said Rojas, “and I accuse the Cuban government and- specifically- three political police officials who are Yordanis Martínez León, chief of the so called ‘Enemy Confrontation’ brigades, Captain Abel Ramirez, and Lieutenant Saul Vega for the most recent arbitrary arrests, arbitrary vigilance around my house and now for vandalizing my house through an act of terrorism“. The dissident added that he would try to contact pro-human rights international organizations to present a formal denouncement.
In addition to the constant vigilance, Rojas’ cell phone has been blocked by the regime on a nearly constant basis, impeding the journalist from sending out Twitter or text messages, considering that the blogger interviews dissidents throughout the country, captures images of the Cuban reality, and never keeps his denouncements quiet”.
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For more info: 011-5352-771-487 (Luis Felipe Rojas)/ 011-5353-684-380 (Exilda Arjona, wife of Rojas).
Two posts written by Luis Felipe in regards to the recent repressive actions against him, other dissidents: “Anonymous did It” and “Galeano, the Sightless“.
